1. What is the main thesis of the reading?
The thesis is; "The crux of biomedicalisation theory is that today medicine, broadly conceived, is being transformed from the ‘inside out’ through new socio-technical arrangements that implement biomedical sciences and technologies to intervene in health, illness, healing, the organisation of medical care and research, cultivating emergent forms of life" (Clarke).
2. What is the authors aim in writing the article?
The authors aim in writing this article is to focus on how natural sciences have gone from cellular to molecular levels though the past few decades. Also, this breaks in to the social aspects of medicalisation and how people have been questioning their existences in new ways. However, since of technoscience and having the ability to look further into the makeup of the body, thus, brings up genetics and genomics and
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The first section being "a new biopolitical economy of medicine, health, illness, living and dying" (Clarke). The second is "a key process of biomedicalisation is a new and intensifying focus on ‘health’, broadly conceived, in addition to traditional medical focus on illness, disease and injury" (Clarke). The third "is the technoscientisation of biomedical practices. Interventions for treatment, enhancement and optimisation are progressively more reliant on sciences and technologies, are conceived in those very terms, and are ever more promptly applied" (Clarke). The fourth "key element of biomedicalisation, somewhat less familiar, includes transformations of biomedical knowledge production, information management, distribution and consumption" (Clarke). The fifth point is "biomedicalisation theory is also concerned with how biomedical transformations of bodies are producing new individual and collective technoscientifc identities (Clarke)". The author uses these points to help for theunderstanding the theoretical framework for this
The concepts discussed within the article regarding medicalization and changes within the field of medicine served to be new knowledge for me as the article addressed multiple different aspects regarding the growth of medicalization from a sociological standpoint. Furthermore, the article “The Shifting Engines of Medicalization” discussed the significant changes regarding medicalization that have evolved and are evidently practiced within the contemporary society today. For instance, changes have occurred within health policies, corporatized medicine, clinical freedom, authority and sovereignty exercised by physicians has reduced as other factors began to grow that gained importance within medical care (Conrad 4). Moreover, the article emphasized
As good writers do, Kevin has exquisitely used language to favor his side. His wide arsenal includes weapons such as non-sequiturs, vague comparisons, jargons, emotive terms, connoted meanings and multiple others. The author knew that his target audience would not be specialized in bioengineering and its application in the medicine industry. He exploited this vulnerability of theirs by using scientific terms like “formulaic”, “clinically”, “suicidal ideation” and “cardiac hypertrophy” throughout the essay. This usage of jargon (Carroll, 2012) accompanied by him acting as an expert persuades the reader to believe in his writing.
Although the level of medicine has been extremely increased, it is still not enough to ignore the risk. Because it is still in the progression to be better, people have to endure the danger when they try new medical invention such as DBS. It means that people have to invest their bodies or their lives to get the outcome of the experiment. Even though Lisa Nash, who is the mother of patient Molly, says “We did what we needed to do to keep our daughter from dying (17)” in Belkin’s article, what Molly’s parents did is the experiment to make another life for her daughter Molly. In other words, they tested the study with one another human’s noble life—Adam’s life. The purpose of the birth of human cannot be any other than itself. Slater also mentions how medical procedure gets result on security of human life. She illustrates the detail about DBS that “there is a gruesome quality to any brain surgery. The drill is huge; its twisted bit grinds through bone, making two burr holes on either side of the skull” (239). It shows that there is always danger when the doctor operates surgery which is directly related to human bodies and lives. Of course, there is always flip side for everything and the successful ending of surgery can be significant discovery. However, medicine experiment or surgery is not as simple as cutting tree or fixing fence by using heavy drill and there is nothing valuable to spend human lives as an
The more we know about genetics and the building blocks of life the closer we get to being capable of cloning a human. The study of chromosomes and DNA strains has been going on for years. In 1990, the Unites States Government founded the Human Genome Project (HGP). This program was to research and study the estimated 80,000 human genes and determine the sequences of 3 billion DNA molecules. Knowing and being able to examine each sequence could change how humans respond to diseases, viruses, and toxins common to everyday life. With the technology of today the HGP expects to have a blueprint of all human DNA sequences by the spring of 2000. This accomplishment, even though not cloning, presents other new issues for individuals and society. For this reason the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) was brought in to identify and address these issues. They operate to secure the individuals rights to those who contribute DNA samples for studies. The ELSI, being the biggest bioethics program, has to decide on important factors when an individual’s personal DNA is calculated. Such factors would include; who would have access to the information, who controls and protects the information and when to use it? Along with these concerns, the ESLI tries to prepare for the estimated impacts that genetic advances could be responsible for in the near future. The availability of such information is becoming to broad and one needs to be concerned where society is going with it.
The practice of medicine is both beautiful and dangerous. It is known for its power of healing and innovation. However, it can also cause damage by medicalizing and simplifying very sensitive, complex topics. In Being Mortal, Atul Gawande explores the nature and process of death, including the precious, limited time leading to it. Gawande gives light to the fact that because of pharmaceuticals and modern technologies, people in their last stages of life often focus on hope, rather than recognizing the bitter reality. Also, Gawande describes the importance of different care facilities, such as hospice, and their role in helping the critically ill. Unfortunately, it often seems that the focus is not on the ill and their wishes, but rather the
In Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Values, Peter Singer examines ethical dilemmas that confront us in the twentieth century by identifying inconsistencies between the theory and practice of ethics in medicine. With advancements in medical technology, we focus on the quality of patients’ lives. Singer believes that in this process, we have acknowledged a new set of values that conflicts with the doctrine of the sanctity of life.
Technological revolution was greatly contributed by the integration of personal computers. Computers did not only contribute to existing businesses, but also created new businesses and jobs. With the emergence of the internet was created a boundless source of information and a new way of communicating. Internet, being a fairly young communication medium, is has just started to influence our lives and its full impact has not been completely sensed. With the help of computer technology came numerous breakthroughs in genetics. Discoveries in the field led to development of new medical treatments and hybridization of animals and plants. With the introduction of DNA testing it became possible to identify individuals’ relationships and aided in criminal investigations. However, certain new scientific directions became subjects of great controversy; one of which is stem cell
Peter Conrad’s book, The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders, examined several cases of human conditions, once viewed as normal, now considered as medical issues. Conrad defined this transition of human problems to disorders that are medically defined, studied, diagnosed and treated as “medicalization”. Specifically, Conrad discussed certain conditions, such as adult ADHD, as age related phenomena that have been medicalized. Throughout, Conrad demonstrated how these issues became medically defined because of the current research and financing structure of medicine in the United States. Those newly defined illnesses changed people’s perceptions and expectations of health and old age, thus dramatically altering society’s expectations of medicine and subsequent life quality. Conrad’s ethnography is a good example of the ethnomedical approach to medical anthropology that addressed several health conditions that are prominent in the United States. He culminated his book by arguing medicalization primarily serves as a form of social control, solving problems with individuals and not society. While the book clearly explained a wide range of negative causes and effects of medicalization, Conrad only acknowledged a few examples of successful resistance briefly in his last chapter. In order to empower its readers beyond education, the book should have examined these instances of anti-medicalization to find similarities and derive productive countermeasures for individuals to follow. Conrad thoroughly outlined the history, examples and influencing factors that promote medicalization, but failed to offer any combative solution to the resulting problems of medicalization.
In terms of what is looked for in the Biomedical model, it is believed that there is one aetiology of the disease or illness exhibited in the patient who is then treated as a passive host of the illness where only the medical technology provided by the medical practitioner can hope to cure or at least care for the patient. While at one point in time this method of treatment seemed apt due to the knowledge of the world of that period, it is not a holistic approach of intervention because the main thought behind this model, as discussed by G. L. Engel (1977:129), is that because a disease or illness is characterized by “somatic parameters, physicians need not be concerned with psychosocial issues which lie outside medicine’s responsibility and authority.” This implies that following the Biomedical model, medical practitioners do not take into account the living situations, economic standpoints, racial, gender and ethical viewpoints or the community involvement factor of the patient seeking help.
Willis, E., 2009. The Human Genome Project: A Sociology of Medical Technology. In: Germov, ed. An Introduction to Health Sociology. Melbourne :Oxford University Press, pp. 328-341.
Morality plays a huge role in the health care field. This principle of right and wrong behavior is significant to every doctor when evaluating the merits and difficulties of many medical procedures. One may find the advancement of medical technologies hard to endure, however, this increase in medical technology serves as a solution to our human imperfections. For example, using in-vitro fertilization to pick and choose embryos regarding an ideal genetic baby or human cloning. If we screen an embryo for a tissue type, we can then allow certain physical traits for the baby. We can choose their eye color, type of intelligence, athleticism, and talent that could suggest our babies nonetheless, perfect
Health as a Social Construction In my essay, I aim to find out why social construction affects the health of our society. Ill health may be defined as 'a bodily or mental state that is deemed undesirable'. This means that health is the condition of the body both physically and mentally. Social construction of health refers to the way health varies from one society to another.
...e gap in attitudes between pre-medicalized and modern time periods. The trends of technological advancement and human understanding project a completely medicalized future in which medical authorities cement their place above an intently obedient society.
The different models to health all use different principles. The biomedical model concentrates on the physical and biological aspect of a disease. Doctors and health professionals practice this model. This model is associated with the diagnosis, treatment and cure of the disease. This model evolves as times goes
The evolution of technology has been hand in hand with the human subjugation of earth, but the question persists, when does the use of technology go too far? Advances in medical science have increased the average human lifespan and improved the quality of life for individuals. Medical science and biology are steadily arriving at new ways to alter humans by the use of advanced genetic alteration. This technology gives rise to the question of how this new technology ought to be used, if at all. The idea of human enhancement is a very general topic, since humans are constantly “enhancing” themselves through the use of tools. In referring to human enhancement, I am referring specifically to the use of genetic intervention prior to birth. Julian Savulescu, in his, “Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Enhancement of Human Beings,” argues that it is not only permissible to intervene genetically, but is a morally obligatory. In this paper, I will argue that it is not morally obligatory to intervene genetically even if such intervention may be permissible under certain criteria. I will show, in contrast to Savulescu’s view, that the moral obligation to intervene is not the same as the moral obligation to prevent and treat disease. In short, I will show that the ability of humans to intervene genetically is not sufficient to establish a moral obligation.